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Choi Eun-sik, head of the labor union for South Korean workers under US Forces Korea, calls for improvements to the South Korea-US defense cost-sharing negotiations in front of the Blue House on Mar. 25. (Yonhap News)

On Mar. 25, US Forces Korea (USFK) began sending its South Korean employees individual notices that they’re being placed on unpaid leave as of Apr. 1. This measure, which applies to about half of USFK’s 9,000 or so employees, is due to South Korea and the US’ failure to strike a deal in their ongoing defense cost-sharing negotiations. The notice stated that workers will neither be paid nor allowed to work on a voluntary basis.

In the notice, which was sent out on Wednesday, USFK informed workers that their furlough period will continue until they receive further notice. The message was signed by the commander of personnel administration.

The notice said that the unpaid leave decision had been made because USFK doesn’t have enough funds left to satisfy its obligations to workers and blamed the funding shortage on the deadlock in the South Korea-US defense cost-sharing negotiations. USFK told workers that they won’t be paid or assigned any work during the furlough.

In the notice, USFK also warned the labor union not to follow through on its threat to send furloughed workers in to work. During the furlough, the notice said, workers won’t be allowed to work on a voluntary basis. Workers were informed that they must remain away from their workplace and that they’re forbidden from doing anything related to their jobs during that period.

During the round of cost-sharing negotiations held in Los Angeles on Mar. 17-19, the South Korean government proposed reaching a partial agreement about personnel costs in advance and offered to pay wages up front to prevent USFK employees from being furloughed. But that offer was officially rejected by the US, apparently out of concerns that reaching an agreement on the issue of wages would deprive it of leverage it needs to coerce South Korea into agreeing to a massive increase in its financial contribution to stationing US troops. The US faces criticism for treating the South Korean workers as hostages in the negotiations.

The USFK employees are organizing single-person protests with the hope of blocking the unprecedented furlough. The employees’ union is concerned not only about the livelihoods of the thousands of workers who will be placed on leave without pay, but also about the discord that could arise between those who are being furloughed and those who are not.

“Once the furlough begins, the thousands of people who aren’t being paid will have serious trouble paying their bills, while those who are still working will feel guilty about their furloughed colleagues. During the remaining time, we hope the South Korean government will make a more practical offer in the negotiations and that the US will make concessions and try to prevent these workers from being furloughed, which has never happened before,” said Kang Tae-uk, chief of policy for the USFK Korean Employees Union.

By Park Min-hee, staff reporter